Developing Park and Ride and school bus services
An ever increasing number of private cars significantly slow down public transport in Tallinn. As part of the city’s efforts to tackle this problem, Tallinn is developing a Park and Ride and a school bus service.
Implementing sustainable mobility
Intensifying traffic density in Tallinn is causing chronic traffic jams during peak hours, while car ownership continues to steeply rise. A well developed Park and Ride offer and a school bus service are seen as initiatives that can remedy the situation.
The main objectives of the measure are to:
>> Foster multimodal travel on daily trips from home to work or school;
>> Promote public transport usage and sustainable mobility habits;
>> Reduce private car usage in the city centre; and
>> Reduce the demand for parking in the inner city.
The city already implemented a school bus pilot in February 2007 and a Park and Ride service pilot that was integrated into the bus network in August 2007. Data from these pilots will be used to develop the new school bus routes and Park and Ride sites. Additionally, the planning will take different aspects such as the city’s development plans into consideration.
How is the measure progressing
Tallinn has drawn up an implementation plan and has conducted a situation analysis to develop recommendations for the improvement of the Park and Ride offer. The main results of the analysis have confirmed that he Park and Ride network is poorly developed. Firstly, as only a few of the sites proposed in previous studies were actually developed, usage of the service remains low. Secondly, the study showed that it takes much longer to get to the city centre using the Park and Ride service than going by car. This has to do with the fact that congestion is not a critical problem in the areas where the Park and Ride sites are located and because the public transport connection to the city centre is slow. The third key finding identified insufficient promotion of the Park and Ride service as an issue. The study concluded that the Park and Ride system currently in place does not have any beneficial impact on the volume of traffic. A new Park and Ride network will need to be developed that is easy to use and well promoted.
What are the expected results of the measure
Tallinn expects that the measure will result in:
>> A 5 percent decrease in private car use on the route between the city centre and the district of Pirita;
>> A 6-7 percent increase in the share of public transport on the route between the city centre and Pirita;
>> A 10 percent increase in passenger satisfaction with the travel duration from Pirita to the city centre; and
>> Less pollution in the area between Pirita and the city centre.
Contact: Imre Saar
